My 9981 Review

[VertuLion]

Ok folks
Its been 5 days since I got my 9981 and its time for a review.

Hardware and Design
This is the first time RIM officially releases a "luxury" Blackberry. (Customized Blackberries are everywhere). So this is more of an experiment than a standard product release. Apparently, seeing how the 9900 succeeded in becoming the best Blackberry ever, RIM wanted to figure out if they could push the standards up with this phone. So they found a partner in crime, Porsche Design, which is famous for its pure German no-bull design and here we have the outcome.

The box is quite impressive for a standard Blackberry user, but not so much for a luxury smartphone user. Being a Vertu owner, i wasnt that impressed with what i saw but again the 9981 sells at 2000 USD whereas the cheapest Vertu sells for 4000 USD. In any case the contents of the box are ok BUT (and thats a big but) there is no holster. This is a huge disappointment because every Bold model that came out until now had a holster and this phone, being the most luxurious Blackberry of all times, doesnt have one. Instead it comes with a charging dock which is cool but I only use it at the office. A holster would be much better.

The device has a very solid feel to it: many former 9900 users like myself will feel the weight of the device in their hand. It is a heavy piece of machinery, due to all the metal keys and the structure. The back leather is beautiful, the front looks german and clear cut.The buttons on the keyboard are nice, but, during night time the LED lights are not evenly distributed which makes the phone look cheap. Furthermore the accept/reject call button, Blackberry button and return button shaft is plastic and comes off quickly. One needs to be extremely careful not to damage these keys. No dropping this baby for sure. This is why we really need a holster for this.

I would mark the following:
Design: 10 out of 10
Material: 10 out of 10
Durability: 7 out of 10
Box contents: 6 out of 10

Software
Its OS7, just like a 9900. However the custom Porsche design theme makes some difference. But I am hugely disappointed with the lack of Porsche themes, ringtones and alerts. If you are creating a custom phone with the Porsche Design name branded on top of the phone and even on the battery, you should offer more themes and ringtones. Every customized phone I have used until now had tons of exclusive stuff in them. Isnt this all about exclusivity? Why should I pay 2000 USD for a phone if its not going to make me feel exclusive. The pimped Nokia Oro, which is gold plated and stuff, has everything customized in it and its a fraction of 9981's price.

Software OS: 9 out of 10
Custom Materials: 5 out of 10
Exclusivity: 3 out of 10


Others
Battery, UI, processing power etc: they are all 9900 stuff so no need to review the already obvious here again. The keyboard takes time to get used to after a 9900 due to the different layout but touching the metal strong keys is really a sensational feeling. For that I applaud RIM and Porsche Design.

Overall
Beautiful piece of machinery, solid design and stylish looks. Thank god they worked on the 9900 or the software would be unacceptable. With little OS improvements for exclusivity and more solid keyboard buttons, the 9981 can become the best luxury business smartphone in the market. It will definitely surpass the revamped E72s in the form of Vertu Constellation Quests which neither have BBM nor secure e-mail.

Overall Rating 8 out of 10

[niks1]

Agree with most of your points. The box, while nice, is a bit of copying the Vertu, right down to the layout. Also, don't forget the Vertu does not come with a holster either, so I would not throw that in there (though I agree it should be included).
The other stuff is right on, but I would add:
1. The possibility of never getting a 7.1 OS, due to the limited quantities produced. I have no idea how hard it would be to modify the 9900 OS for this phone, but it seems it should be easy.
2. The Porsche theme is OK, but the icons and the highlighting of them are not great. I expected a lot more. I wish I could go back to the stock 99xx theme.
3. The keyboard, while takes a bit of time to get used to, is not bad, probably 90-95% as good as the 99xx keyboard IMO. It is however miles ahead of my Constellation Quest keyboard.

[byul]

is it also possible to provide some selfmade 9981 pictures? would be nice.

[emirozmen]

What you get for your money sucks IMO.

[Kofi901]

Ooh never heard of this blackberry. Do they sell this in stores?

[VertuLion]

Its only sold in some countries, I got mine from a store in Doha which brings them from Dubai. As for the holster in Vertu phones, my Constellation T came with a leather holster and all Blackberry Bold models come with holsters. I will post some pictures soon.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9981 using Tapatalk

[leboreiro]

hi .. i would like to know .. where is the big deal on the phone that makes it that expensive? i mean.. i have a 9810 and movies looks awesome on a bigger screen .. same processor , same ram, so .. the housing of this 9981 phone is made of gold? or maybe some expensive material? .. cause in hardware talking i've same functionality and speed on my torch for 1500$ less .

[byul]

well that's called exclusive. it's actually the same but with a porsche desgined housing.
it's only for the ones that are willing to fork out the money.
it's the same like everything else, when you have it, it's just that exclusive feel.
nothing more. if i had the spare money would i buy it? yes. even though it's the same as a 9900.
just if i had the money.. and really want it. ok
if i had the money and do not want it? that's another case.

[leboreiro]

i understand the point hehe . if i had the spare money to buy an expensive device like that prolly i would buy one with better hardware resources to be really awesome ^^

[VertuLion]

The 9981 is the only exclusive smartphone in the world with BlackBerry capabilities. Therefore it is my choice. I could go and buy a Vertu Constellation Quest which is a luxury version of Nokia E72 and doesn't give me anything I want. The 9981 is the luxury version of the best Blackberry ever built: the 9900.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9981 using Tapatalk

[VertuLion]

Sent from my GT-P7500 using Tapatalk

[TroyPoseidon]

^very nice tyvm!

[papped]

Originally Posted by leboreiro

i understand the point hehe . if i had the spare money to buy an expensive device like that prolly i would buy one with better hardware resources to be really awesome ^^

Luxury phones generally have very basic specs and a limited selection of OSes. The P'9981 is actually better than the other options...

[BergerKing]

Nice how it sits in the matching dock.

[weshley01]

Well, can't expect something cheap when brand like porsche take apart on it!! I think blackberry could and will make a better smartphone than their best at the moment (9900 or probably blackberry london) with still a huge gap within the price compare to 9981.. but hey, once again, the "porsche design" will make the difference! Bugati design will surely cost us more IMO!! LOL but yeaa, as long as we can afford it and it just what we've been looking for.. why not??

- Chill -